PHOENIX — The Suns are not to be counted on for victories against any team in the league, but a Milwaukee visit has never been a question since Alvan Adams played in Veterans Memorial Coliseum 26 years ago.

Back then, stamps were 22 cents and a gallon of gas was 95 cents, and the Suns have been easy money in Phoenix against Milwaukee ever since. The NBA’s oldest home winning streak against an opponent went down Thursday night along with a flushed half-season.

For the first time since Feb. 21, 1987, the Suns lost at home against Milwaukee in a 98-94 defeat that dropped the Suns to 13-28, their worst midpoint record in a quarter-century.

The Suns led the Bucks (20-18) by eight with less than 10 minutes to go, but the continuing inability to close out winning opportunities and find clutch scoring ended a 24-game home win streak against the Bucks. Milwaukee won at US Airways Center for the first time in 20 visits to end the league’s second longest streak in games behind San Antonio’s 27-game run against Golden State.

After leading 56-53 at halftime, the Suns crumbled offensively like they did with two 13-point second-half quarters at Brooklyn. This time, the Suns had two 19-point quarters, giving up a 16-2 run in crunch time after leading by four with 6:14 to go.

“You have to be able to make plays down the stretch to win games, especially close games,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said.

During that run, the Suns came out of timeouts with a Marcin Gortat turnover, Luis Scola getting blocked to lead to a Shannon Brownairball as the shot clock expired and a Gortat offensive foul. The Suns missed 9 of 10 shots during that stretch, including three Brown misses and Gortat getting blocked twice.

“I will take the blame for losing this game,” Gortat said. “If we want to win, the guy in the middle has to be more productive and play stronger. His presence has to be seen. Quite honestly, I wasn’t in this game since the first minute.”

The Suns defense that had been shored up in the middle of the game was allowing lane penetration and open 3-point looks again late.

Bucks guard Monta Ellis, shut down by P.J. Tucker in the first meeting, scored six consecutive Bucks points for a tie with 3:30 to play. Ellis finished with a game-high 24 points while Sanders added a career-high 19 points and 15 rebounds.

“We stopped competing,” Gortat said.

For the ninth time this season, the Suns failed to shoot even 40 percent from the field with 11 Bucks blocks contributing. It was the fourth time in the past seven games that the Suns have shot less than 40 percent. Once a solid ball-handling team, the Suns’ ball care has eroded. Their 18 turnovers Thursday was their third 18-turnover game in the past four games.

“It tough,” Dragic said. “It’s different players than in the past for the Suns. In the past, four players spread the floor and one big guy rolls or plays the low post and creating form there you have more spacing. With this team, we don’t have this. In the past, we were a running team. We ran a lot and scored some easy layups. We don’t do that any more.”

Brown led the Suns with 20 points and four steals but needed 18 shots from the field (making eight) to get there. That still was a better effort than his benchmates, who went 6 for 23.

The Suns had their worst first quarter since Nov. 10 at Utah to start the game, falling behind 32-22.

Report

Key moment: Leading 84-80 with 6:14 to go, the Suns gave up a 16-2 run.

Key number: 9. Times the Suns have shot less than 40 percent this season.

Why the Suns lost: The Suns seem to forget what suits them. The aggression to drive and get out in transition fed the Suns offense for a 34-point second quarter. In the second half, they wound up with poor chances late in shot clocks by overdribbling and settling for jumpers. They don’t have players who can get their own shots but energy, screenings and ball movements can manufacture offense.

View from press row: Suns power forward Markieff Morris still has nights like Thursday night, when he committed four fouls in 10 first-half minutes. But, overall, Morris has cut back his foul rate this season while keeping his rebound and blocked shot rates about the same.

Posting a comment to our website allows you to join in on the conversation. Share your story and unique perspective with members of the azcentral.com community.

Comments posted via facebook:

► Join the Discussion

azcentral.com has switched to the Facebook comment system on its blogs. Existing blog comments will display, but new comments will only be accepted via the Facebook comment system. To begin commenting, you must be logged into an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. While we welcome you to join conversations, readers are responsible for their comments and abuse of this privilege will not be tolerated. We reserve the right, without warning or notification, to remove comments and block users judged to violate our Terms of Service and Rules of Engagement. Facebook comments FAQ

Join thousands of azcentral.com fans on Facebook and get the day's most popular and talked-about Valley news, sports, entertainment and more - right in your newsfeed. You'll see what others are saying about the hot topics of the day.